The Value of the Sports related Degree in the Sports industry

            When it comes to college degrees, there has always been a global discussion of whether college degrees are “useful”. Due to the high cost of college degrees, some people choose not to attend. Some feel that they do not need to attend college in order to become successful or become an entrepreneur. On the other hand, those people in specialty industries understand that their college degrees are needed. More specifically, the topic of this blog takes aim at the degrees in the Sports Industry. There are various opinions, positive and negative on whether Sports degrees are useful. Of course in my opinion they are, but to some there are other degrees that could help someone excel in the Sports Industry.

            In an article from U.S. News and World Report written by Menachem Wecker, he discusses how some successful Sports industry college graduates have chosen to go through MBA instead of those degree programs focused on Sports. “Some say that an M.B.A. can be provide more professional flexibility than an M.A. or M.S. in sports” (Wecker 2011). The reason for this could be because of the various areas of Sports that those could excel in. There are different areas including marketing and sales and these experts feel that the Sports related Degrees might not resonate as well as the others. Despite which program students choose, they should also avoid the popular misconception that the sports industry doles out high salaries, according to professors and sports industry professionals (Wecker 2011).

            Well known businessman and Sports mogul Mark Cuban also feels the same way. In an interview with Bill Sutton, Cuban says, “If schools want to have any value to sports teams they should offer degrees in Sales.  Not sports sales. Just sales.  Teach kids to sell and they can get jobs anywhere anytime.  Teach kids sports management and you improve their chances of getting a job at Fridays” (thesportsresume.com.). Cuban feels that the reason he and his Dallas Mavericks basketball organization is successful is because of being known for the fan experience and excellent customer service. He feels that there are too many Sports program graduates with very low job opportunity in the industry. As a reader, what is your opinion on these topics? Is any degree worth more or less in this industry? Check out Cuban's opinions in the video below.

Why Sports Management is a lucrative career.

For this blog I wanted to share an article that I recently read entitled Why sports management is a lucrative career written by Abhijit Dabhade. This article in particular sheds light on the versatility of the Sports Management industry. Relatively new, the industry is quite interesting considering the various avenues for someone aspiring to have a career in Sports Management. In the article Dabhade discusses the different roles and career paths that can be taken in the Sports Management profession. He also discusses the skills that you can potentially posess having a career in the industry.

Dabhade lists some of the various careers or avenues as:

·      Sports Teams and League Management

·      Sports Sponsorship

·      Sport Operation Management

·      Sport Facility Management

·      Sport Hospitality

·      Sport Marketing

·      Sports Communications and PR

·      Sports Talent Management

·      Sports Media and Production

·      Sports Logistics

·      Sports Human Resource Management

·      Sports Tourism

·      Sports Legal Aid

·      Sports Psychology/Sociology

From these different avenues there is a lot that someone can learn and opens up multiple doors for growth. As a budding industry that continues to grow especially here in the US, the career path seems to be quite promising. Yet, as Dabhade discusses in his article it could also be quite difficult as well. As sports begin to become more lucrative, the athletes are paid well but that mean those holding positions in a font office could benefit financially as well.

I found this article quite intriguing because it reminds me a lot of my situation. Over time, I have changed my mind when trying to decipher, which Sports career path to take? I sometimes question exactly which role or which avenue in the industry would be best for me.  I see this as a good problem to have because I believe I have tremendous experience to go along with a skillset that could fit in multiple Sports Management career paths. My hopes are that by the end of this Degree program, I will have the knowledge of understanding where I could best implement my skills to begin a successful career in Sports.

http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report-score-high-with-a-lucrative-career-2207021

Came up short, but did whatever it took to stand up tall!

For this blog post I would like to reference a story written by a close friend of mine. His name is Andrew Hawkins and he is currently a Wide Receiver for the Cleveland Browns. Andrew became a friend of mine over the past several years through having mutual friends. We share a close mutual friend in Lance Moore who is currently a Wide Receiver for the Detroit Lions and former teammates with Andrew at the university of Toledo. Andrew is currently a contributing writer to the Players’ Tribune, which is a platform form athletes to discuss their reflections, thoughts and experiences.

In Andrew’s two part article deservingly titled “Coming up Short” and “Whatever it takes”, he discusses trials and tribulations of his journey to play in one professional NFL game. There were things about him that I never even knew that caught my attention. He went through some of the most difficult obstacles to reach his goals and never gave up hope on himself. Some of the stories he discussed were people constantly counting him out. Some of those people were some he trusted and very close to him including his college coaches as an example. They did not think he would make it in the NFL, and now as the previous Cleveland Browns leading receiver boy did he prove them wrong!

The reason these two articles catch my attention are not because he is a friend of mine but merely it motivated me in a way that I had never been motivated before. The courage to write these stories for the world to see was very brave to me. It also reminded me of some of my stories and things from my football past that I also struggled with. It has been tough for me the past 10 years to fully accept my decision in deciding to no longer play the game of football anymore. I have now accepted that it was not meant to be and stories like Andrew’s show me that it is ok to voice your shortcomings. Well all have them but that never means “give up” on yourself. Because of that, I am pursuing a career in athlete management in which I can assist current Football athletes in developing their careers and life after it’s over. This gives me a chance to get as close to my football dream as possible and realize that maybe it was not meant for me to make an impact to the game directly on the field but rather yet indirectly off the field.

Endorsements: Sky is the limit for some athletes!

It is no secret that major league professional athletes generate millions and millions over dollars over their playing careers.  It is also not a secret to realize that as time passes and the sports industry becomes larger, it is doing so all while generating bigger money. Although the sports industry is fairly large and there are lots of athletes, they are definitely getting a piece of that revenue. There are seen the reports of the large contracts and endorsement deals, but how are they spending this money? The better question is, are they actually saving any?

There have reportedly been alarming statistics in the past that suggest that the majority (not all) have spending issues and monetary issues. While most of it seems to happen after their careers are over, it generally starts as a downfall during their career. This is not the case for one man that is known around the National Football League as “Beast Mode”. That’s correct, we are talking about none other than the electrifying football player named Marshawn Lynch. Set to reportedly be nearing retirement, the main story surrounding the retirement is not about the actual retirement itself. The hype is all about the amount of career earnings Lynch has saved.

According to a report by Patrick Frye of Theinquisitor.com, Lynch has saved nearly $50 Million dollars in earnings over the tenure of his football career. How did he survive? Endorsements. His endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi, Skittles, Progressive, and Activision have earned him around $5 Million dollars a year outside of football (inquisitor.com).  In comparison to a lot of past and current athletes that is pretty impressive. What this means is that he has lived primarily off of his endorsements deals and saving up his career earnings. This places him in a very comfortable retirement situation.

Although on the other hand, he is definitely not alone in being one of the “smarter” professional football athletes who generate big dollars through endorsements. Kurt Badenhausen states in a Forbes.com article that; “there are nine NFL players who will pull in at least $5 million off the field by Forbes’ count this year” (Forbes.com). Some of these athletes that are included in that list are J.J. Watt, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers. According to the site, Eli Manning pulls in close to $8 million dollars in earnings while Tom Brady generates around $6 million from endorsements with Ugg Australia, Tag Hauer, and Under Armour (Forbes.com). As this trend becomes more increasingly popular we hope that more athletes follow the Marshawn Lynch model: spend your endorsement money, save your career contract earnings.